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Timi Yuro
Rosemary Timothy Yuro, professionally known as Timi Yuro (August 4, 1940 – March 30, 2004), was an American singer and songwriter. Sometimes called "the little girl with the big voice,"[1] she is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era. According to one critic, "her deep, strident, almost masculine voice, staggeredDELIVERY and the occasional sob created a compelling musical presence."[2] Yuro possessed a contralto vocal range.[3] Early years Rosemary Yuro was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1940, into an Italian-Americanfamily whose original name may have been Aurro. By the time of her birth, however, the family used the spelling Yuro. In 1952, young Rosemary moved with her family to Los Angeles,[1][2] where she sang in her parents' ItalianRESTAURANT and, despite their opposition, in local nightclubs before catching the eye and ear of talent scout Sonny Knight. Signed to Liberty Records in 1959, she had a U.S. Billboard No. 4SINGLE in 1961 with "Hurt", an R&B ballad that had been an early success for Roy Hamilton. Yuro's recording was produced by Clyde Otis, who had previously worked with Brook Benton and Dinah Washington.[1][2]Later that year she recorded as a duo with Johnnie Ray. She charted some further minor hits including "Smile" (No. 42), and opened for Frank Sinatra on his 1962 tour of Australia. In 1962 Bob Johnston and Otis produced Yuro's single "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?)", which went to No. 12 on the Billboard pop chart.[4] On both "Hurt" and "What's a Matter Baby", Yuro showed an emotional but elegant vocal style that owed aDEBT to Washington and other black jazz singers. ManyLISTENERS in the early 1960s thought Yuro was black.[1] Her single "The Love of a Boy" reached No. 44 in 1962. It was arranged and co-written by Burt Bacharach, but Yuro refused to record hisSUGGESTED follow-up, "What the World Needs Now Is Love".[2] In the following year, Liberty released Make the World Go Away, an album ofcountry and blues standards. The singer at her vocal peak, this recording includes the hit title song (later a bigger hit for Eddy Arnold, with whom the song is usually associated), a version of Willie Nelson's "Permanently Lonely", and two different blues takes of "I'm Movin' On". Yuro was also known for soulful reworkings of popular American standards, such as "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", "Smile", and "I Apologize". She toured Europe in 1963, and appeared on the British TV show''Ready Steady Go!.[2] However, in the U.S. her image became established as a cabaret performer rather than as a soul singer.[1] By 1964 Yuro had moved to Mercury Records, but her first record for the label, "You Can Have Him", arranged by Jack Nitzsche,[4] only just scraped into the chart and was her last hit. Nevertheless, her album ''The Amazing Timi Yuro, produced byQuincy Jones, was an artistic success.[2] Subsequent records were unsuccessful, although a B-side, "Can't StopRUNNING Away," was later popular on the UK'sNorthern Soul circuit.[1] In the 1960s, Yuro made two TV appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and was a guest on American Bandstand, Where the Action Is, and The Lloyd Thaxton Show. In 1967, she appeared in a black-and-white film in the Philippines as a guest star alongside Filipino comedians Dolphy and Panchito in a comedy titled Buhay Marino (Life of a Sailor), a film released by Wag-Wag Productions, Inc. Prior to that, Timi also appeared as guest at theSTUDENT Canteen TV program hosted by Leila Benitez at CBN (now ABS-CBN) in Aduana, Manila, and afterwards, did a singing concert at the Araneta Coliseum (now Smart Araneta C). At that time, the singer was very popular in the Philippines. She re-signed for Liberty Records in 1968, and recorded in London. By the late 1960s Yuro had performed in venues from London to Las Vegas. In 1965 and 1968 she sang at the Sanremo Festival, Italy's most popular musicCONTEST. However, her career lost its early momentum and she quit the music business altogether after her marriage in 1969.[2] Later career and death In 1981 Yuro attempted a comeback in the Netherlands, performing as a guest of honor on Dutch national television. She rerecorded a version of "Hurt" that reached No. 5 on the Dutch pop charts. She also signed to the Dutch record label Dureco to record a new album, All Alone Am I; it went to No. 1 on the Dutch album charts and was eventually certified as a gold record. With these successes, Yuro moved to the Netherlands andCONTINUED with a string of hit singles and albums. After her record sales began to decline there in the mid-1980s, Yuro returned to the United States. Her last recording was the vinyl album Today, which was released in 1982 by Ariola and produced by her old friend and collaborator Willie Nelson. In 1990, the disc was reissued as a CD, remastered and remixed by Yuro herself on her own label Timi and titled Timi Yuro Sings Willie Nelson. In the mid-1980s, Yuro's American doctors detected throat cancer. Her larynx was eventuallyREMOVED, and in 2004 she died of cancer. Influence Yuro's work is admired in the United States as well as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. According to the obituary in the Las Vegas Sun, her hometown paper, Yuro's most famous fan was probably Elvis Presley, who commanded his own table at theCASINO where Yuro headlined in the late 1960s. (Presley had a Top 10 country hit, and Top 30 pop hit, with his 1976 version of "Hurt".) In April 2004, Morrissey announced Yuro's death on his official website, describing her as his "favorite singer". (Morrissey also recorded a version of Yuro's "Interlude" with Siouxsie Sioux in 1994.) P.J. Proby knew Timi Yuro from their time in Hollywood, and often mentions it during his performances of "Hurt". Elkie Brooks recorded a version of Yuro's classic "What's a Matter Baby" on her 1988 album Bookbinder's Kid. Yuro was so impressed with the version, she contacted Brooks while she was on a UK tour, and the two kept in contact. YuroFOUND success on the dance floors of northern England in the 1970s and 1980s when Northern Soul DJs championed her up-tempo tracks of "It'll Never Be Over for Me" and "What's a Matter Baby". The former has remained an important Northern SoulTRACK; the latter was re-released on Kent Records in the 1980s. Yuro's friend Mike Iannarelli currently runs her official fan page "Timi Yuro" on Facebook, which is endorsed by the singer's family. In addition to her music, Iannarelli sharesPHOTOS from Yuro's career and personal life, offering a wealth of information and personal stories from her time in the music industry. Iannarelli has made it his mission to keep Yuro's music and memory alive. He has been instrumental in various CD releases of Timi Yuro's music, including the 2012 CD set Timi Yuro: TheCOMPLETE Liberty Singles. He has also been interviewed on American oldies stations about Yuro's recording career. RPM Records has a new CD release of Yuro's "Rarities 1956 - 1982" That will be released October 27, 2014, which Iannarelli has co-produced. Discography Albums *''Hurt!'' (Liberty Records 7208, 1961) *''Soul'' (Liberty Records 7212, 1962) *''Let Me Call You Sweetheart'' (Liberty Records 7234, 1962) *''What's a Matter Baby'' (Liberty Records 7263, 1963) *''The Best of Timi Yuro'' (Liberty Records 7286, 1963) *''Make the World Go Away'' (Liberty Records 7319, 1963) *''The Amazing Timi Yuro'' (Mercury Records 60963, 1964) *''Timi Yuro'' (Sunset Records 5107, 1966) *''Something Bad on My Mind'' (Liberty Records 7594, 1968) *''All Alone Am I'' (Dureco Benelux 77.011, 1981) *''I'mYOURS'' (Arcade, 1982) *''Today'' (Ariola, 1982) CD collections Hurt! The Best of Timi Yuro (Liberty Records, 1963 /EMI Records, 1992) Timi Yuro - 18 Heartbreaking Songs (Intermusic, 1993 - RMB 75061) Timi Yuro: The Lost Voice of Soul (RPM Records, 1993 - RPM-117) Timi Yuro: The Voice That Got Away (RPM Records, 1996 - RPM-167) Timi Yuro: TheCOMPLETE Liberty Singles (Real Gone Music, 2012 - RGM-0066) Timi Yuro: I'm A Star Now Rarities 1956-1982 (RPM RECORDS, 2014 - RPM-955) Singles Category:1940 births Category:2004 deaths